Buying a legendary with real money.

Backstory/rant just skip straight to the math if you dont care(trust me, you dont).

Spoiler

SO, I really - really - want the stupid mlp bow for my rogue. Problem is twofold though,
1: I hate the pve with such a passion I am unable to do dungeon runs for those mats needed,
2: I have less chance than a snowball in hell of ever seeing a precursor drop.

Right then I thought to myself, I have money right, I spend allmost a year in gw2 - I can justify spending the price of an AAA title for gems.
I started looking at bying gems with real money from Anet and selling them at the tradehouse for gold to buy the bow.

That's because you're not supposed to buy an item with real money. That's all there is for it. If the price would be "reasonable", you'd see way more legendary in the game and it would ruin their purpose. Gems are mostly there to buy the items from the gem store, buying gems specifically to trade for gold is not a good method to make gold and it's not supposed to be either

One problem with this... it costs far more in the trading post for obvious reasons than it would be to make it. The real cost of the dreamer if you make it, save the time you lose due to making it yourself, is around 900-1000 gold, which is around 300 Euros using your equations.

Still insane, but I don't believe they want these weapons to be buyable.

One problem with this... it costs far more in the trading post for obvious reasons than it would be to make it. The real cost of the dreamer if you make it, save the time you lose due to making it yourself, is around 900-1000 gold, which is around 300 Euros using your equations.

Still insane, but I don't believe they want these weapons to be buyable.

Well if he was to make it himself he'd have to actually play the game in order to get dungeon tokens, WvW tokens, Karma, gift of exploration etc etc. Things he specifically said he wasn't interested/able to do.

OP: I don't mean this in any disrespectful way, although it might sound like it.
A player like you is just not meant to have a legendary. Although for most people Legendaries don't take skill they do require effort and some basic capabilities within the game. Having a Legendary isn't just about the fancy skin, it's about a demonstration for your fellow players that you've been around and know your shiz. If you think doing dungeons for 500 tokens(something that can be done in 3 days time taking less then 2 hours for all paths of TA) is an impossible task I'm afraid to say a legendary should be well out of your reach. Otherwise there is little point to the items, if everyone can get them so easily by just throwing 50 bucks at the devs what the hell would the purpose of them even be. Again I don't mean disrespect towards you, this is just how the items are meant to be, not everyone is meant to be able to get one.

Well if he was to make it himself he'd have to actually play the game in order to get dungeon tokens, WvW tokens, Karma, gift of exploration etc etc. Things he specifically said he wasn't interested/able to do.

I know, just wanted to add to the discussion for a contrast how much time is valued in terms of money/gems/real world money.

Well if he was to make it himself he'd have to actually play the game in order to get dungeon tokens, WvW tokens, Karma, gift of exploration etc etc. Things he specifically said he wasn't interested/able to do.

Well I do actually play the game, anywhere up to 8 hours a day, thing is I only do what I think is fun ingame, wich happends to be WvW. I sit at around 10k honor badges and some 3.5 million karma so thats hardly the problem, but you try and get groups to dungeon runs and hear people cry about you using suboptimal builds, not knoving every single exploit to every single dungeon etc. Anyways, lets not start a whole thing about his now - just wanted to know if the math checked out and apperantly I does. I will keep doing what I do, defending the realm, making sure all the pve'ers get their bonus stuff from out WvW efforts etc

I would say if you are playing the game upwards to 8 hours a day the game is very high on your priority list. 800 euros would be a small amount to pay for something with such a high priority. As long as the amount does not adversely impact you financially. The only thing I do for 8 hours or more a day is work. I don't even think I can honestly say I spend 8 hours of quality time daily with my wife. Definitely don't get 8 hours of sleep a day.

lol theres a website where you pay 1 copper for a legendary and *donate* a certain amount of money($190-270) to keep them running. not suggesting you do that, because buying a legendary defeats the purpose, but it is really cheap comparatively.

I paid a fair share for my legendary with money irl and then converting it to gems. I don't know how you feel about this game, but at the time I thought I really wanted it, now I regret it badly, as the legendary itself as in item which not worth anything in the eyes of others but mostly because I wasted such a huge amount in that game I feel ashamed lol. Legendary's do not say anything about the person that owns them except for "s/he's good at farming gold/mats" or "that person is rich in real life". There's absolutely nothing prestigious about a item in a game where you can gain everything by paying in real life(legally).

Do you like the game so much you are willing to spend that amount of money? If yes, do it. If not, don't.

Do you like the game so much you are willing to spend that amount of money? If yes, do it. If not, don't.

This, absolutely this. Doesnt matter what anyone else says/feels about it - all that matters is if its worth it for you. If I knew for certain I would still be playing the game a year from now, I'd buy the bow for sure.

From a purely financial perspective, ArenaNet has strong incentive to allow at least some wealthy individuals to purchase Legendaries, in part or in whole. As I understand it, the model expects many/most people to pay very little to nothing at all, and the rest of the money comes from cash cows. A few purchased Legendaries makes up for several freeloaders (to use unhelpful and pejorative labels).

If ArenaNet wanted obtaining a Legendary to be completely divorced from gems and money, they would have created a system that was isolated from markets at every step, from start to finish.

(I would have actually preferred such a system--say, a long series of difficult and engaging quests. Maisc'est la vie.)

Just out of curiosity, how exactly would buying a legendary defeat the purpose of it? The only purpose I would ever consider buying one would be for the fun and enjoyment it would bring me.

I guess thats my personal opinion really. I was in the same boat, ended up buying the Bifrost with real money and don't regret it at all, but it doesn't really have any meaning behind it besides a few hundred dollars. Sunrise on the other had, i crafted myself and worked together with a bunch of people from my guild running dungeons and whatnot. map completion, grinding, it all felt like it was going to take forever, but after it's all said and done, it feels much more rewarding when i have my sunrise out than my bifrost( and this isn't due to looks or anything, i love the look of both).

I guess thats my personal opinion really. I was in the same boat, ended up buying the Bifrost with real money and don't regret it at all, but it doesn't really have any meaning behind it besides a few hundred dollars. Sunrise on the other had, i crafted myself and worked together with a bunch of people from my guild running dungeons and whatnot. map completion, grinding, it all felt like it was going to take forever, but after it's all said and done, it feels much more rewarding when i have my sunrise out than my bifrost( and this isn't due to looks or anything, i love the look of both).

I have a similar opinion: spending an awful lot of real money on something that otherwise would require countless hours of doing ingame content (probably having fun playing the game throughout) seems to be the 'cheap' way to me, if you forgive the pun. It takes away the feeling of achievement.
That being said, I have no chance in hell to get my legendary through crafting it myself (some of the content just isn't for me) and, quite luckily, I am not wealthy enough to by it with real money. So I have to resort to 'simply' gaining enough ingame money to be able to by the one I want on the TP. It is going to be (it is already) extremely slow, given my playstyle, but at least it will be all the more fulfilling when I finally get it.

Backstory/rant just skip straight to the math if you dont care(trust me, you dont).

Spoiler

SO, I really - really - want the stupid mlp bow for my rogue. Problem is twofold though,
1: I hate the pve with such a passion I am unable to do dungeon runs for those mats needed,
2: I have less chance than a snowball in hell of ever seeing a precursor drop.

Right then I thought to myself, I have money right, I spend allmost a year in gw2 - I can justify spending the price of an AAA title for gems.
I started looking at bying gems with real money from Anet and selling them at the tradehouse for gold to buy the bow.

Tell me I messed up the math somewhere, becourse €850 for an ingame item is just beyond kitten stupid.

Not to mention the big elephant in the room, no matter how much money you're willing to throw at your screen you still have to go and get the Gift of Exploration and the Gift of Thorns which sounds like it would be an issue for someone who hates PvE as much as you do. So you're going to be stuck doing some content PvE content regardless

Well there is nothing legendary about those weapons to begin with, system of crafting is boring and except exploration and karma, dungeon tokens you can buy everything else.

I did make Twilight, but due to the simple and dumb luck that slapped me with Dusk drop (only bright thing in entire process) i manage to craft it, and when i did i was like yeah...cool...great.......and then came that.....meh....who cares.....bah, there is nothing EPIC or LEGENDARY about it so buying it makes even less sense especially with that astronomical price !

One of biggest flaws of GW2 is that you don`t have that "expectation mode" when you farm or go to some high end dungeon....you basically know you will not get anything worthwhile !

@OP If you didn`t buy it yet save cash dude and buy something that makes sense throwing money on pixels is just waste......btw for that money you can buy entire account along with legendary and enough gold and mats to make another one.....to hell i would sell you mine

Before I say anything else, keep in mind that the TP prices for the legendaries are set by the people selling them, not Arenanet. If you want to drag then into the gripe, you would have to complain about the in-game economy as a whole... but that's another matter entirely.

Tell me I messed up the math somewhere, becourse €850 for an ingame item is just beyond kitten stupid.

The math looks about right. I didn't do the price check in € but rather US$ and it certainly is an expensive prospect. Keep in mind how long it takes to farm some of the mats and how many it takes to craft the prerequisite pieces, not to mention managing to get a precursor which are either Mystic Toilet farmed for potentially a lot of gold or a really rare drop chance. The price tag on a legendary is justifiably high; it's a daunting prospect to craft one ( that is until the precursors are craftable items.

Atticus, on 29 September 2013 - 07:12 PM, said:

Not to mention the big elephant in the room, no matter how much money you're willing to throw at your screen you still have to go and get the Gift of Exploration and the Gift of Thorns which sounds like it would be an issue for someone who hates PvE as much as you do. So you're going to be stuck doing some content PvE content regardless

He would only need 100% map completion in order to craft the legendary, he, I believe, is talking about buying it whole, not piecemeal.

Not to mention the big elephant in the room, no matter how much money you're willing to throw at your screen you still have to go and get the Gift of Exploration and the Gift of Thorns which sounds like it would be an issue for someone who hates PvE as much as you do. So you're going to be stuck doing some content PvE content regardless

Eh, no I wouldnt - I would be buying the actual legendary off the tradehouse, not the mats for it. Besides I allready have 2xgift of exploration, back from the first month of release - funny enough it was most likely during my time spend getting 100% completion I decided the pve content was utter rubbish ^^

I'd never buy a legendary with real money or even gold because working on long-term goals like this are what keep me logging into this or really any MMO. Funny thing is, once I actually got it I'd probably stop playing nearly as much. I don't really give a rat's ass about showing it off to other people who have all likely seen it in a hundred other players' hands by now. All that matters to me is the project.

I'd never buy a legendary with real money or even gold because working on long-term goals like this are what keep me logging into this or really any MMO. Funny thing is, once I actually got it I'd probably stop playing nearly as much. I don't really give a rat's ass about showing it off to other people who have all likely seen it in a hundred other players' hands by now. All that matters to me is the project.